Chief Keef’s no longer the subject of a bidding war after having found a label he’s comfortable with calling home. While in Atlanta to perform at radio station 107.9’s Birthday Bash, rap’s latest hot commodity told MTV’s RapFix that Jimmy Iovine’s house of hits officially signed him for his services and also inked a publishing deal with Dr. Dre but things don’t stop there. Andrew at FSD spoke with Uncle Ro Mgmt to get the details.

“Although a dollar amount was not discussed, know that it was in the millions. Along with the solo deal, Keef was given his own label deal for his GBE imprint, which will be headed up by Keef, his manager Dro and his cousin Fredo Santana — likely making Chief Keef the youngest label owner in all of music.

“Keef also agreed to a multi-movie film deal through Interscope’s motion picture division, so look for Keef’s story to hit the silver screen in the future. The first movie is already in the works…The icing on the cake, however, is Keef’s own line of Beats By Dre headphones, aptly titled “Beats By Keef.” [FSD]

Time will tell how far he goes but Chief’s got a large portion of Chicago behind him, most of his legal circumstances situated and now the resources of a mighty label at his disposal. While those factors don’t guarantee success, they generate a hell of a headstart for a young artist who’s still shy of 18.

I do not see all that was placed on the table actually happening beyond a record but… everything in the industry has a disclaimer until it truly materializes anyway so… take it as words and hope until then.

I’d honestly say A$AP Rocky deserved his deal (at least from a talent/marketability perspective, certainly not for being a proven commodity), but Keef hasn’t even reached the level of success Rocky was at. He hasn’t even reached the level comparable rappers like Waka Flocka have. There are rappers who deserve large deals still; they just have to prove they’re more than a flash in the pan.

interscope isn’t giving him bags of money totalling a million dollars. what this basically amounts to, most likely, is giving GBE a multi-million dollar line of credit to run their “boutique label”, with all funds likely recoupable, probably from a 360 pool (meaning if his record flops, Jimmy can still get his hands in Keef’s merchandising and tour money till they get even). The Dre publishing deal probably means he’ll get a Dre beat or three and Dre will see more off of album than he will, publishing wise. Labels don’t “give” you anything. They invest in you and force you to agree to use everything you have as collateral (future tour, publishing and merch revenue).

If Keef works his ass off and goes gold, tours like a mofo, and sells hella merch, he’ll walk away from this in a good place. Presumably he’ll get a small piece from every headphone sale and I wager he’ll be able to move a few of those off his movement in the Chi alone (and throughout Illinois, then the Midwest, then beyond depending on how far he “crosses over”). I think the headphone part of his deal is the smartest. If they sell an addtional 10,000 headphones in the Beats by Keef line and he makes even 3% of that revenue (retail at what, $150 a pair? $200?), he’ll make more than most artists see from their deals this year. I just tried the Beats By Dre website and it says “server too busy”. If that is a result of Keef hype, he’ll have a helluva year…

Keef might be Indian Summer garbage, but this sounds like a 360 deal—label will slide a lil bit of cake upfront and load this deal with a mob of incentives that if Keef meets he’ll cake up—as the label of course, cakes up exponentially more off of.

Don’t underestimate the power of a “movement” to distorting a label’s view of what’s possible. Keef has a huge following in Chi. He gets eyeballs, kids on the block that will spend money to see him live and buy t-shirts, etc…

Again, don’t be mad at Keef for being Keef. There’s lots of blame to go around… there’s a couple dozen Keefs in every major city. The industry is looking for turn-key artists—cats they don’t really hafta groom but can put a couple bucks into while the infrastructure is largely there to leverage what they’re already doing…

Keef is beasting WSHH, FakeShoreDrive and kids 18 and under in Chi, Indiana, Wisconsin, etc. really do listen to him.

Labels tryna strike while the iron is hot… get in and get out. In short:

Labels are Day Traders and artists are now speculative stocks… Keef’s closer to Facebook than Apple, but that’s ok—they’re gonna pump and dump… If Keef’s smart he’ll pocket six-figures for a rainy day, raise a lil hell for a year or two and he fades like Bump J an nem.

I will be back but the key distinction is that he is not signed to Aftermath – he is signed directly to Interscope. So the only way you will wait (and wait… and wait) is if the Chairman (Iovine) makes you wait. Dre has nothing to do with it – at all.

TRA: So under this deal, near as you can tell, what do you think Dre’s role is here: producer/A&R? Manager/Shepherd? Is it something akin to the Akon/Gaga deal or Usher/Bieber arrangements?

Also given the type of music Keef is churning out, how valued is Dre’s involvement, here. Alot of these cats—Keef, KRIT, Lamar, ASAP Rocky, Mac Miller, etc. seem so self-contained that a big label isn’t really needed unless it’s to get on a big tour/major media exposure.

I see why labels want these cats, but what’s in it for the artists nowadays? Is the upfront money that big still?

Sorry yo, I’m not buyin’ it. Not one little tiny bit. You’ve only been known for 120 days partner. They aint throwin’ millions at that. Nobody is buying Chief Keef headphones… Who?

Besides, I’m sure they write in all kinds of deals in everybody contract. And how many of these niggas you see making those things? Hell, I wouldn’t be surpised if they didn’t put any of that in, but just told ’em they did, and they believed it, cause they never actually read the contract.

Everything about this stinks. Not the least of which is how a kid with negligible mic talent can be signed to a record deal in the first place. RIAA did indeed, ruin rap.

Oh, and saying that kids in chicago will buy dudes albums… Nah. No kids anywhere spend money on music. Kids may be checkin for him on youtube, or downloading his tracks for free… But you cannot count on dude to put out anything resembling quality for people to risk the $16 on in the first place.

And unlike Soulja Boy, there’s no cutesy dance craze to confuse the parents into subsidizing their kids’ purchases… They won’t put no money behind this stuff for kids under 18.

You’re right that there’s no “dance” behind Keef. But from what I’ve seen in Chicago, Keef and others rep an underside that the music world has long ignored, one that’s bubbled in the south/bay in years prior…

It’s really about nihilism and ‘reality rap’ that fueled the Thizz movement, and ratchet music before.

Other than Common, Ye, Cool Kids, Kid Sister, Kids in the Hall, Twista… hiphop’s pretty much slept on CHicago for years… now insteada having cats say “i gotta get out of chicago to make it” they’re saying “lemme really push and build up here.” the result is bubbling consumer base/indie scene that really reminds me of the Bay circa early 2000s.

I am from the Bay and I honestly would say that the only rappers to have true national success are Hammer and $hort. Mac Dre (much love to him – R.I.P.) was never signed to a major, and 40 was but never sold units everywhere (despite gold and platinum plaques with major video play on MTV and BET). A lot of rappers/groups/etc. signed major label deals (3X Krazy, JT, Dru Down, Luniz, Banks, 4-Tay, Dubee, Spice 1, etc., etc., etc. – the majors saw wealth in the Bay due to massive independent numbers), but the sound was regional. It never appealed to a national audience beyond a crossover single here and there.

$hort was on MTV back in the late 80’s/early 90’s and of course, so was Hammer. And while $hort’s influence reached from west to east (working with Jay-Z and many others), his SoundScan numbers never were good on the east. He sold millions in the west and south. Hammer sold everywhere.

Most would find this odd, as those in L.A., the south, midwest, east – have all had acts that sold units strongly, everywhere. The only other place that I can think of that is comparable to not having a consistent national audience output is the Pacific Northwest (Oregon… Washington). The last nationally selling artist that I can think of, off top from that region was Sir Mix-A-Lot.

But in the Bay, you had no need for a national audience and sales when you were pushing hundreds of thousands of units completely independent.

What’s everyone so mad about? Good on the kid.
It’s “bring out the goon in you”* music, and its good goon music.
I’m happy for him, I just hope we don’t see young kids tryna fake their deaths on twitter now for the publicity, but that’s more a reflection of us then Keef.
——–
* I believe it was Andy Greenwald or Chris Ryan who perfectly articulated that one in a Hollywood Prospectus podcast.

Actually if you read the taboids/xxl magazine correctly, Dr Dre has been in meeting with a white South African rap artist by the stage name PROZAKTLY on publishing deals and may produce his new album! He currently has a hit single on South African radio and has sold plenty units on itunes, all i could find was this soundcloud link to his new hit single..

OK here it is: check out these kids out the Chi Called ERISOCRATS i bought their cd from this one guy in a parking lot one summer ….[www.youtube.com]…..thats the link to the video now m point is this….Keef and his crew took care of business! period what i mean by that is they had SOME kind of discipline to make the music,the vids uploading them creating a buzz and i NEVER saw them in the streets selling ANYTHING is Keef dope?? hey, to some he is maybe BUT he makes a nice buzz in the streets to SOME and ALOT of kids play his music BUT will it sell??? people love it when its free but when you ask for money its a WHOLE different story is this MIXTAPE not ALBUM MIXTAPE gonna have the songs thats on youtube that mad him famous??? personally i think he sounds kool and i think he might do some things i really do but when u ask for money people wanna know and ask-‘how good is he?’ then they start comparing him to other rappers then what happenes when other rappers come at him lyrically? can he keep up? what happenes when the money gets spent? a million dollars is alot but add on taxes and EVEREYDAY spending i hope this young man makes the right choices and as for that guy i bought the cd from THEYRE DOPE!!!! BUT it doesnt seem like theyre handling their business

congrats to chief keef!!!!! before anybody talk down on chi town children you got to understand chitown. keef represents something thats loyal in the streets of chi. and these major labels understand what he represents…. believe me if he got a million dollar deal its because of his unique style that the industry big dawgs saw that no one else saw.and believe me that deal is 100% solid because they know what a young street nigga from chicago will bring to the table…..THE WHOLE SOUTH SIDE!!!!!!!